


They were Just Kids

by rosetintmyworld



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Comforting from the hyungs, Home Invasion, It's just a bag of scariness, M/M, PTSD, Rape, So warning the boys are not of age, The dreamies do get hurt, Violence, We Young Era, intruder, mentions of scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-09-18 19:52:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20318581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosetintmyworld/pseuds/rosetintmyworld
Summary: NCT Dream was trusted to stay home alone in the dorms on the wrong night.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Home Invasion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11571963) by [Tigosxx000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigosxx000/pseuds/Tigosxx000). 

Mark closed the door after their manager, hoping that tonight the kids would give him a break. Their manager had decided to let Mark be in charge for the night, and that meant no adult supervision-- well, Mark was an adult now-- just the six of the boys in the dorm alone, with no schedule for the next day. Jaemin had gone home to his parents, his back still bothering him.

“Hey!” Mark called in English and he watched as heads peeked out of respective doors. 

“Yes, Hyung?” Chenle asked.

“Manager-nim is gone for the night,” Mark started and Jisung pushed Renjun down, jumping over the boy to rush into Chenle’s room.

“Yes! Sleepover in Chenle’s!” He yelled as Jeno helped up Renjun, who was rubbing his knees and complaining in Mandarin.

“Hey! cut it out, and apologize to your hyung,” Mark admonished the blue-haired boy and Jisung stuck his head out of Chenle’s door. 

“I’m sorry hyung, I didn’t even see you there,” Jisung tried to sound innocent and Mark let it go, knowing that was as good as he was going to get from the boy. 

“Look, I’m in charge. But that doesn’t mean that you can just go wild. This is going to prove that we can stay on our own more often. So let’s not blow it,” Mark explained and Jeno sighed. 

“That’s it?” He asked and Mark nodded. 

“Yeah, so just… don’t die, or light anything on fire, I would appreciate it.” Mark said before looking around when he realized that he was in the room by himself. 

“Or… whatever, I swear these kids don’t respect me,” He muttered before going into his room and laying down. 

“Hey, want to watch some videos?” Donghyuck asked, holding up his laptop, and he nodded, getting into bed with him.

Mark got up when he realized that it was almost midnight. 

“I’m going to make sure the kids are in bed,” He explained, stretching his back and yawning. 

“Bring me back some water?” Donghyuck asked and he raised an eyebrow.

“Get it yourself,” He grouched. 

“Hyung!” He whined, but got up, going to the kitchen as Mark began to go knock on doors. 

He came to Jeno and Renjun’s room, knocking softly. 

“Hey, are you all good?” He asked and Renjun looked up from his bed. 

“Huh?” Renjun asked and Mark shook his head. 

“Nothing, goodnight,” Mark explained before closing the door quietly. 

He went to Chenle and Manager-nim’s room and immediately heard a peal of laughter. 

“Guys!” Mark called, knocking on the door.

“Nobody’s home!” Chenle giggled out, and Mark rubbed at his temple. 

“What are you two up to?” Mark asked as he opened the door. Chenle and Jisung were crowded onto one bed together, still laughing about something. 

“It’s time for bed you two,” Mark spoke strictly and Jisung sighed. 

“We’re not tired,” Jisung complained through a yawn. 

“Yeah, I’m sure. Get to bed, it’s after midnight, and you can’t throw off your sleep schedules, in bed, I mean it,” Mark tried to sound strict. 

“Yes Hyung,” they spoke in unison and Mark closed the door on them before heading back to his room with Donghyuck. 

“Night Hyung,” Donghyuck spoke and Mark echoed goodnight back before climbing under the blanket, falling asleep almost immediately. 

Mark groaned, hearing something fall in the kitchen.

Honestly, he told those kids to go to bed and it was-- three in the morning. 

He was going to kill them. 

Mark rubbed at his eyes, getting out of bed. 

“Hyung?” Donghyuck asked. 

“Nothing, the Maknae are still up, don’t worry about it,” He explained and Donghyuck sighed, dropping his head back onto his pillow. 

Mark walked into the kitchen, expecting to see the Maknae standing in the kitchen. 

Instead, he just found a broken cup.

He rolled his eyes, grabbing the broom and sweeping up the glass, sure that the kids must have dropped it and ran back to their rooms. 

He threw away the glass before knocking on the kid’s door. 

They didn’t answer and he sighed, not wanting to play this game with them. 

He pushed the door open.

“If you two-” He stopped when he realized that they were both sitting up in one bed, the blanket clutched to their chests.

“Hey, did you two break a glass?” He asked and Jisung stared straight ahead, not looking at Mark.

“No,” He stuttered out.

“Oh- then it must have been Donghyuck- sorry,” They were acting weird, and he honestly wanted to get back to bed. He wasn’t going to be the victim of one of their pranks tonight. He began to back out of the room when he heard Chenle make a high pitched noise. 

“What’s wrong-” The door slammed shut behind Mark and they were plunged into darkness.

There were five sets of eyes in the room.

“Who's there?” Mark asked, his eyes adjusting to the dark. 

He could see the rough outline of the figures, and he knew they weren’t his members. 

“Shut up,” One of the men hissed at Mark, pushing him further into the room and he stumbled, his hip catching the edge of the bed with a hollow thud. 

“Hyung?” Jisung whispered and Mark cleared his throat. 

“What are you doing in here, we don’t have any money,” Mark tried again, squinting as he looked at the men in the dark. 

They didn’t have much money in the dorm, to begin with, and he knew that most of the members' allowances were already spent up on trivial things like candy and comic books. He had about 28,000 won hidden under his pillow, but that wouldn’t be enough to sate three robbers. 

“We don’t believe that look at this place,” The man said and Mark wanted to scoff. 

Look at what, six kids living on their own in a tiny dorm?

“We don’t have anything, we’re just kids,” Mark defended and one of the men grabbed his wrist, yanking him off of the edge of the bed. 

“you’re going to give us something, let’s go,” He said, yanking on Mark and pulling him towards the door. 

Mark yanked away from the man and was quickly knocked to the floor, his ears ringing from the blow to the back of his head. 

“Hyung!” Jisung and Chenle called out together and one of the men turned to look at them. 

“Shut up!” He yelled at them and they flinched, pulling the blanket up to their chins. The man yanked the blanket off of them, grabbing Chenle’s ankle and pulling him down the bed. 

Chenle kicked at the man, who slapped him sharply across the face. 

“Come on, let’s go!” The man growled, successfully pulling Chenle to the ground. 

The other man just nodded towards Jisung and he clamored out of bed, helping Chenle up. 

“To the living room, let’s go!” The man forced them, pushing his fist into the bottom of their spines, moving them along. 

They stumbled into the living room, dropping on the couch before one of the men produced duct tape. 

“Get on the couch, hands in your laps,” The man commanded and Chenle did as he said, pulling Jisung onto the couch with them. 

“How many of you are there?” The man who appeared to be the leader asked, the one who had only nodded towards Jisung, and Mark bit his lip. 

“It’s just us,” He lied and the man sneered, producing a knife from his pocket. 

He flicked it open and Mark watched as it gleamed in the dull lighting. 

“You think we’re fucking stupid?” He asked, shoving the knife against Mark’s pulse point. 

“It’s just us, Look, we don’t have any money or anything, please it’s just the three of us, don’t hurt us,” Mark begged and the man shook his head. 

“We don’t like liars, you lie to us again, and your throat is going to be smiling, how many of you are there?” He asked and Mark closed his eyes. 

He didn’t want any of the other members to get hurt, and he wished that the men hadn’t come into the Maknae’s room first. 

“There’s six of us in total!” Jisung called out and the man pulled the knife away from Mark’s throat. 

“See, cooperation, that’s what I like to hear, You, get up. Now, you go get the others, you tell them anything about what’s going to happen, and we won’t hesitate to hurt your dongsaeng,” The leader threatened Mark and he looked over at Jisung. 

“I’m sorry hyung,” The boy whispered and Mark shook his head. 

“Fine, fine, I’ll go get them,” Mark whispered before getting off of the couch, trying to keep a level head about him. 

What the hell was he going to do? He was supposed to be in charge here, he was the leader, he should be doing something other than leading his dongsaengs straight into harm’s way. 

What would Taeyong do?

Taeyong wouldn’t have to deal with this because 127 was full of adults, able-bodied adults who could fight their way out, for God’s sake, they had Johnny on their side, Johnny was a force to be reckoned with, and the biggest person in Dream was their fifteen-year-old Maknae. 

What the hell could they do?

He went to Jeno and Renjun’s room first, shaking the other two next eldest awake. 

“Hey, come in the living room, and please be quiet,” Mark commanded and Renjun frowned, looking over at the clock. 

“It’s three in the morning, what’s going on?” Renjun asked and Mark took a deep breath.

“Please Renjun, just- we have to go to the living room,” Mark urged and he got out of bed, pushing at Jeno to get him awake. Jeno was a lot easier to wake now that Renjun was up, and came without much of a fuss.

They stopped in the living room when they saw the men standing in front of Chenle and Jisung.

“I’m only seeing five,” The man sneered and Mark took a step back.

“What’s going on?” Jeno asked and one of the men grabbed him by his shoulder, pushing him towards the couch. 

They did the same to Renjun, who tried to shoulder the man off. 

“I’m only seeing five, let’s go, kid, before things get out of hand,” the man argued and Mark retreated into the rooms, finding Donghyuck sleeping peacefully. 

Mark paused, not wanting to wake the boy up to face this, but thinking about what his friends would be facing if he didn’t bring back the boy. 

He sighed, shaking the redhead softly. 

“What’s going on?” He asked softly and Mark took a deep breath. 

“Hey, come on, get up, I need you to come into the living room,” Mark explained softly and Donghyuck shook his head, burying his head back into the pillow. 

“No, you have to get up Donghyuck come on,” Mark tugged on the boy's arm and he shook his head, 

“No… hyung let me sleep!” He complained and Mark bit his lip. 

“You’ve got to wake up, now! Please!” Mark begged and the boy finally rolled over, his hair a mess and his face in a sour expression. 

“Okay, I’m up, what do you want?” Donghyuck huffed, rubbing at his eyes. 

“I need you to go to the living room, please, don’t ask questions, just come to the living room,” Mark begged and the boy got out of bed, following Mark, a question on his lips. 

He stopped once he saw a tall man standing in the archway of the door. 

“What took you so long? I was sure we were going to have to kick you into gear,” the man explained, flicking the knife lazily. 

“What’s going on?” Donghyuck asked and the man grabbed his shoulder, pushing him into a chair where another man taped his wrists together on his lap. 

“What do you want with us?” Donghyuck asked and the man sat down in front of him, playing with that damn knife. 

Mark stood in the doorway, unsure why he hadn’t been put pushed onto the couch as well. 

“We’re looking for some money,” The man informed and Renjun shook his head. 

“We don’t have any money,” He called and the man turned towards him. 

“That’s what he was telling us, but we don’t believe you. Look at this place, you’ve got to have some money around here. We’re not leaving empty-handed.” The man said and Renjun bit his lips. 

“We’re not lying,” Mark called and the man looked back at him as if he were just realizing that he was still here. 

“Come on, we’re going to check this place. You’re going to show me around. Any funny business and your friends will suffer, got it?” The man pushed Mark back towards the bedrooms and he stumbled along, willing his limbs to work. 

He was jittery and he knew he was on the verge of having a panic attack, but he couldn’t give in just yet. 

Mark led the man first to his and Donghyuck’s room, reaching under his mattress to pull out the money he had been hiding.

The man counted the small amount before raising his eyebrow at him.

“That's all I have,” Mark explained before moving over to Donghyuck’s bag and pulling out his wallet.

He had even less money than Mark. 

Mark handed it to the man before moving onto Renjun and Jeno’s rooms. 

Meanwhile, the other boys were still sitting in the living room, eyeing their leftover captors warily. 

The men were standing opposite of the bound boys, one man flicking his knife around as he looked around the dorm. 

Another man was staring hard at the youngest boys.

“What are your names?” The man asked and they all looked back over at him, unsure of who should answer first, of what they would even say. 

“Renjun,” Renjun stuttered out and the man raised an eyebrow.

“That doesn’t sound Korean, we’ve got a foreigner,” the man smirked and leaned forward. “A pretty one at that.”

Renjun leaned back into the couch, half hiding behind Jeno.

He wanted to avoid the man’s leering gaze.

“I’m Jeno,” Jeno supplied, distracting the man.

Their captor’s eyes left Jeno, moving down the line. 

“Donghyuck.”

“Jisung.”

“Chenle.”

“Another foreigner, how… interesting, You know, you might be the prettiest group of boys I’d ever seen in my life,” The man teased and all of the boys flinched back.

“What’s your name?” Renjun asked and the man smirked at him.

“You don’t need to know that, we’ll be out of your hair as soon as we collect the money...which really is sad, because I would love to get to know some of you a little better,” the man caressed Renjun’s face and Jeno brought his bound hands up, knocking the man’s hands away. 

“Don’t touch him!” He ground out and the man laughed, pulling away before striking across Jeno’s cheek hard. 

Donghyuck made a noise as if he were going to say something, but was silenced by the glare of their captor. 

“Try it, I won’t hesitate to mess up your pretty little face,” The man hissed out, pulling his own knife out.

“Enough of that, come on,” The man who’d stayed quiet until now called and the man backed up, glaring at Jeno and Donghyuck. 

“Hey, hey, no need to be scared, come on, soon as your little friend gets back with the money, we’ll be gone. We don’t want to hurt you” The man on the wall proclaimed and Jeno spat out blood, as if in silent protest to that. 

“You all are singers right?” The man who’d punched Jeno asked and Chenle nodded softly. 

“Why don’t you sing a song for us?” the man cooed, walking over to Chenle, who shrunk back into the sofa and into Jisung’s side.

“What do you want us to sing?” Jisung asked and the man looked back at his companion. “What do you want to hear?” He asked and the other man shrugged. 

“I don’t care,” the man shrugged and the man closest to the boys turned back to look at him.

“Why don’t you sing us one of your songs,” The captor suggested and Donghyuck frowned. 

“Why would we do that?” He asked and the man sighed. 

“Because it could mean the difference between a peaceful night and getting a knife in your cheek.” The man hissed, tracing the point of his knife down Donghyuck’s cheek.

Donghyuck hissed as the blade cut his skin, a droplet of blood sliding down his tan face. 

“Hyung! Stop it, we’ll sing, whatever you want,” Chenle called and the man turned to look at him.

“Alright, let’s hear something,” The man said and Chenle frowned, looking down at his bound hands as he began to hum the opening chords to my page. 

Renjun began to sing. 

He was cut off before the end of the verse as Mark yelped, falling into the middle of the floor.

The man who took him with him appeared in the doorway, his face scrunched up in anger. 

“What’s wrong, hyung?” Renjun asked, leaning forward to help the boy off of the floor. 

“58000 won, that’s all they had, 58,000 fucking won,” the man spat out angrily. 

“We told you we didn’t have any money!” Mark yelled at the man, his voice ticking up and the man kicked him in the stomach, knocking Renjun off balance. 

Mark groaned from the floor. 

“What are we going to do now?” The captor who had been leaning against the wall asked and the leader’s face scrunched up. 

“I’m not leaving here empty-handed. I’m getting something from these kids tonight," he spat out, his boot connecting with Mark’s stomach again.

The boys slumped against one another, wearily watching the men in front of them. It'd been an hour since the men had broken in, and they were having a hard time not collapsing from fatigue. The men still hadn't decided what they were going to do, and Mark found that worrying.

The men were running out of time, the other boys in the dorm building would be starting their day around six or seven, and it was already four in the morning.

“I say we ransom them off. Get a million apiece,” one man said and Mark snorted hysterically.

“SM wouldn't pay a million a piece for us, they'd just send the police after you.”

“Hey, you shut up, no one was talking to you.” The captor said, smacking Mark hard across the face, silencing him.

“The kids right, no one’s paying that much, besides, we're in their house… we can't hold them here.”

“We could move them,” one man suggested.

At that Chenle made a soft scared noise.

The thought of moving them was scary, moving them meant no one would be able to help them, they could die and no one would know.

“And just how do you expect to sneak out of this building with 6 boys? That's fucking stupid,” one of the men hissed.

“Let's just take some of their shit,” one captor suggested, clearly getting frustrated with their lack of headway.

“There's only one thing I want,” the scariest captor said, his eyes roaming over Jisung, Renjun, and Chenle.

“Make it quick, I don't want to be here much longer,” the leader intoned, his voice sounding bored.

“What are you doing?” Mark asked as the man walked over to Chenle first, pulling him up from the couch and hoisting him over his shoulder.

“I’m taking what I want,” The man spoke and Mark tried to stop the man, striking out at him with his bound fists.

The man dropped Chenle into a heap on the floor before pushing Mark back into the couch, punching him in the face hard. 

Mark tried to fight against him and the man continued to hit the smaller boy until he was barely conscious. The other boys tried to help, but got nothing but hit for their trouble. 

“Enough, next one of you who tries anything is going to get a knife in the neck, got it?” The man hissed before picking up Chenle again, who had tried to scoot across the floor in an attempt to get away from him.

“Jisung!” Chenle called out and the man smacked him hard across the back of his thighs. 

“Don’t worry, your friend’s coming too.” 

He dropped Chenle onto the bed before going back in the living room, grabbing Renjun and Jisung next. 

He slammed the door behind him, locking out the other boys and their protests. 

“Well, aren’t you three a vision?” The man asked and Jisung frowned.

“What do you want from us?” Jisung asked and the man laughed, caressing his cheek.

“I want you, all three of you, but first, I wanna start with the youngest. Let his hyungs watch as I deflower him,” The man laughed and Jisung flinched away from him. 

“Which one of you is the maknae, huh?” He asked and Renjun leaned into Chenle’s shoulder.

“Speak to me informally, I’m going to tell him I’m the youngest alright. Please don’t do anything stupid, Jisung, I’m the youngest.” Renjun spoke in Mandarin, knowing that Chenle knew what he was saying. He was less sure that Jisung would be able to pick it up, but he hoped that the Mandarin lessons had been paying off for the boy.

“What did he say? I don’t want any funny business!” The man spoke defensively and Chenle cleared his throat. 

“He’s scared. We’re all the youngest, but he’s...he’s the baby, and he’s scared,” Chenle covered quickly switching the conversation back to stilted Hangul, and Renjun looked over at Jisung out of the corner of his eye to see that the boy was gaping at him, his mouth parted in shock.

“Hyung,” Renjun whimpered, pressing into Jisung’s side, hoping to wipe the look off of his face.

Jisung schooled his features, his bound hands resting on Renjun’s thigh.

He gave it a tight squeeze. 

“Well, don’t worry, hyung will treat you so nice,” He said, leaning into Renjun’s space.

“Don’t hurt him!” Jisung called out and the man laughed, flicking Jisung’s forehead and making him tip over.

“So you’re the oldest huh? Don’t worry, I won’t hurt your dongsaengs, I’ll make them feel real good.” 

He began to tug at Chenle’s clothing, removing his pajama pants and cutting down the middle of his shirt as the boy protested. He moved on to do the same thing to Jisung.

The man pushed Jisung off of the bed and he hit the ground with a muted thump. He groaned, his arm protesting under his failed attempt to catch himself.

The man grabbed Chenle, dumping him onto the other bed before picking up Jisung off of the floor and doing the same thing. 

“Sit there and watch,” The man hissed before turning to focus on Renjun who was still on the bed. 

He pulled Renjun’s Moomin pajamas down, laughing at the cartoon character on them before running his hands up his legs and into the bottom of his boxer shorts.

“Have you ever been kissed?” The man asked and Renjun shook his head, his face heating up.

“That figures, you’re like a little porcelain doll that no one’s played with yet. That makes you valuable. I wonder how much SM would have paid to keep you that way,” the man began to squeeze at Renjun’s thighs, massaging them before withdrawing his hands from the boy's underwear. 

Renjun let out a breath of relief before the man swiftly pulled down Renjun’s underwear and flipped him over. 

“Too bad I just don’t have the self-control to actually wait. I’m going to have so much fun,” The man said, pushing up the back of Renjun’s shirt until it was over his head, binding his arms even tighter together. He pulled Renjun’s arms from under him, stretching them over his head.

“Grab the headboard. You let go and this knife goes in you,`` he grunted, trailing the knife softly down Renjun’s spine and resting it on his ass, the implications clear enough.

Renjun’s hold tightened on the headboard as searing heat flashed up his spine. He was sure that the man had gone ahead and made due on his promise.

He couldn’t keep down the yell that came punching out of his chest.

“You’re hurting him! stop it!” Jisung called and Renjun let his head drop below his shoulders.

He could feel the cold metal still pressed against his back.

“Jisung, I'm okay,” Renjun whimpered out, feeling like he was going to split in half.

“Why don’t you two get warmed up, give me something pretty to look at while I open him up,” the man commanded the two on the bed.

“What do you mean?” Chenle asked, his voice small in the dark room. 

“Kiss each other,” the man commanded.

“No,” Jisung spoke stubbornly, his voice wavering under the indignation and anger.

“Do it,” He yelled and Renjun whimpered as he felt the lesser pain of the knife digging slightly into the base of his spine. 

“Okay! Okay!” Jisung hissed before leaning into Chenle’s space.

“Good, just like that,” the man coerced and Renjun turned his head into the pillow to avoid looking at his dongsaengs.

Hopefully, he could hold onto consciousness for a little longer, just until the man spent himself.

If he could satisfy him, maybe he’d leave the other boys alone.

Jeno could hear Renjun screaming and he balled up his fist, wishing he could help.

“You call yourselves men? You let him hurt three kids,” Donghyuck spat out and the man looked at them lazily, still playing with his knife.

“Look, if you had money, none of this would have happened, now shut up,” the man spoke and Jeno looked over at Mark, the boy was barely conscious, and his breaths were coming too fast for him to be okay.

Jeno figured they'd have to figure out a way to overpower these guys. They were on the thinner side, but these two were the smaller of the three men. Maybe they stood a chance if Mark could get himself together. Jeno hoped he could talk enough to buy them some time until Mark could come up with something.

“You know, your crime went from burglary to rape, doesn't that bother you?”

“I didn't rape anybody,” The captor said.

“Not like it's going to matter. You were here, you're going to be accessories, you're looking at hard time,” Jeno reasoned, working at the tape that had been placed on his wrist subtly.

“You act as if we're going to get caught. And unless you shut up, that crime is going to be upgraded to murder,” the man threatened, pushing his knife in Jeno's face.

“Cut that out, we're not going to hurt these kids too bad,” the leader explained.

“Well then what do you call what your friend is doing in there?” Jeno asked.

“We can't control him, he's always had peculiar tastes, and we'd rather keep him happy,” the man explained.

“You're a coward!” Donghyuck exclaimed and the man got up, heading towards Mark and Donghyuck's room, smacking Donghyuck on the head on the way out.

“That may be, but at least I'll make it out of here. You might not be so lucky,” the man said before disappearing into their room.

The other captor moved to Renjun and Jeno’s room, leaving the boys alone.

“We got to get to a phone,” Jeno whispered once the man was out of earshot.

He could hear the two free captors rummaging through their drawers, maybe combing for some valuables.

“There’s one in Chenle's room,” Donghyuck whispered.

“Yeah, but they're in Chenle room. We can’t get to the phone,” Jeno complained. 

“So what should we do hyung?” Donghyuck asked and Jeno sighed. 

He didn’t know what they should do. 

He wasn’t the oldest.

“Mark hyung, what should we do? Mark hyung?” Jeno shook the boy and he flinched but snapped into action. 

“We have to fight back, maybe if we corner them off, we could overpower them,” Mark spoke and Donghyuck looked over at him. 

“Do you think we could do that?” He asked and Jeno heard new screams, this time Chenle.

“We don’t have a choice, he’s going to hurt Jisung next.” 

Mark sighed, steadying his breath before getting up. Jeno pulled himself up as well, his hands finally free from the binding around his wrist. 

He helped Donghyuck get up before ripping off his tape.

“Let’s go,” Mark said, leading them into his room.

Donghyuck locked the door behind them and Mark grabbed the hoverboard that had been lying against the door, bringing it down against the man’s back.

The man fell and Mark scrambled for his knife, kicking it across the room so he couldn’t get to it. Donghyuck dropped down on the man’s shoulders, his hand covering their captor's mouth as he tried to muffle his calls. 

Jeno went through his pockets, finding the tape that he had used to hold them down. He got it out, binding the man’s hands high up behind his back so he couldn’t get free before finding a cellphone. 

“He’s got a phone,” Jeno exclaimed before dialing out.

“Hello, this is Lee Jeno from NCT dream, we had three men break into our dorm, please send the poli-”

The door pushed opened and the other captor came in, knocking Jeno off of the man and into the bunk bed. 

Jeno hit his head on the bunk bed with a grunt, slumping over suddenly.

“Fuck,” Mark swore before swinging the hoverboard at the other man. It hit him in the shoulder and he stumbled over Jeno’s legs. Mark climbed on the man’s back, putting him in a headlock and using his weight to drop the man to his knees.

Donghyuck sprang into action, grabbing the tape and binding his wrists as well.

“Search his pockets, get his knife out, and make sure Jeno’s okay, I’m going to stop him from hurting Jisung,” Mark hissed before leaving the room.

Jisung was pushed down on the bed roughly. Chenle had been discarded on top of Renjun.

Renjun’s eyes were closed, and Chenle was clutching his knees to his chest, curled up in fetal position.

Jisung could see the dark blood soaking through his underwear.

“No! Get off! Get off!” Jisung fought the man and he punched Jisung in the temple, flipping him over onto his back.

“Stop it!” Jisung cried and he heard a loud noise that sounded like something hitting the door.

“Get off!” Jisung yelled again, and there was another bang against the door. 

The man pried his underwear down, forcing his knees apart.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Jisung yelled. 

He felt the man’s fingers prodding at him and he squirmed trying to get away. 

“Stop, stop it! Stop it!” He cried out. 

The door was pushed open and Mark stood in the doorway, his chest heaving and his eye swollen shut.

“Get off of him!” He yelled out, bum-rushing the man.

Jisung climbed up the bed, pulling at his underpants as he moved. 

They tussled for a while, grappling for the upper hand before Mark was knocked to the ground and the man pounced on him, hitting the boy hard. 

He watched Mark try to fight the man off, but it seemed to be of no use.

The man wrapped his hands around Mark’s throat, and Jisung watched the boy flail as he tried to get the man off of him. 

“Stop! Stop it! You’re killing him, stop it!” Chenle cried out and Jisung watched on, feeling helpless as Mark’s eyes began to flutter and his fingers, that were clawed began to lose its rigor.

Jisung tore his eyes away from the man, something glinting in the light that had been cast from the hall.

It was the man’s knife.

He picked it up, his hands shaking as he stood behind the man.

Mark’s eyes were closing, and his choking noises were starting to cease, he was passing out.

This man was going to kill him.

Jisung couldn’t let him kill Mark. 

He slid his knife across the man’s throat, a bright spray of blood covering Mark’s pale skin. The man gargled, his hands coming up to the wound and Jisung brought the knife down into his neck, watching more blood bubble forward. He pulled it out, plunging the knife into the man’s back over and over again, even as he felt his own hands become slick with blood that he wasn’t sure who it belonged to.

“Stop! Jisung stop!” Chenle yelled but he couldn’t, not until the man was stopped. Jisung needed to help his hyungs, he had to stop the man, make sure he couldn't get to them and hurt them again. 

“Stop!” Chenle yelled and he felt arms around his waist, pulling him away from the man and out of the room.

Chenle crawled over to Mark, pushing the dead body off of him and checked for a breath.

He was breathing.

There was a loud bang at the door and Chenle flinched, falling back onto his butt, pain shooting through him.

He heard rushed hangul, someone identifying themselves as policemen and he leaned against the bottom of the bed, his brain shutting down from the pain.

Johnny smiled to himself as he crossed the street, his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was coming back from spending the night with Ten in the dorm for the boys who weren’t actively promoting at the moment. Ten was walking him back to his dorm and had been leaning into his side. He stopped in his tracks, Ten bumping into him, as he noticed the flashing lights from the parking lot of the dorm. 

He hoped it wasn’t for him. 

God, if someone found out he snuck out and thought he’d gone missing, this would be all over the news. 

There was no way this would bode well for the rest of the boys.

“What’s going on?” Ten hissed quietly in Thai. 

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Johnny explained before jogging up to the scene.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Johnny asked one of the policemen who were standing by his car. 

“I’m not authorized to say,” The man brushed him off like he was just some noisy nobody. 

“No, I live here, what happened, what’s the emergency?” Johnny asked and the man gave him a tired sigh. 

“I’m not authorized to say,” The man repeated himself and Johnny groaned in frustration.

“Hyung, don’t, don’t get yourself in trouble,” Ten whispered and Johnny sighed, stepping back from the cop before he went off on the man.

Whatever was going on, they wouldn’t need him in trouble too.

“Johnny! Johnny!” Johnny looked up to see Taeil standing by the barricade, he pushed past the cop, half running up to Taeil.

“Where have you been?” Taeil asked him. 

“I’ve been with Ten, what happened? This isn’t for me, is it?” He asked and Taeil chewed on his lip. 

“No. It’s- it’s the kids,” Taeil answered and Johnny furrowed his eyebrows. 

“The kids? What do you mean the kids, like Dream? What happened to the kids?” Johnny asked and Taeil sighed, running his hands through his hair. 

“Their manager left Mark in charge, no one was there when-”

“When what? Move, move out of my way!” Johnny said, and he could feel Ten tugging on the back of his shirt, but he pulled away, charging towards the doors when he heard crying.

He knew that crying, those short hitches.

Mark was having a panic attack. 

“Mark! Mark Lee!” He called, his head whipping back and forth until he saw the young teen sitting on some stairs.

“Mark, Mark what happened? What happened?” He asked, running up to the boy who was still choking on his sobs. 

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay, where the fuck is an ambulance!” He called when he saw that Mark was covered in blood. 

“Where are you hurt?” He asked the boy and he shook his head, his breathing pitched too high as his eyes fluttered. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re okay, you’re okay,” He patted the boy’s back, trying to comfort him, but his panicking didn’t seem like it was ramping down. 

“Move, move out of the way,” Johnny was pushed out of the way as an EMT finally made his way to the boy, working over him and getting him on a gurney. 

Johnny moved back, running his hands through his hair as he made his way back to Taeil. 

More of the boys were there by then, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Sicheng, and Jaehyun.

The only people who weren’t there were the Dream kids. 

“What happened, god what happened? Did one of them get hurt, did they fall, what happened?” Johnny asked and Taeyong shook his head. 

“No- someone, someone broke into their dorm, they- they- someone hurt the boys,” Taeyong spat out and Johnny watched as paramedics began to bring more gurneys down the stairs.

“We’ve got to go after them, we’ve got to meet them at the hospital,” Johnny spoke, and Taeil held up the keys as they watched the ambulance disappear down the street. 

“Let’s go,” He called and the boys all piled into a company car.

They all piled into the private waiting room, waiting anxiously for any news of the dream kids. Ten couldn’t stop pacing back and forth and Johnny watched him, his knee shaking. 

Taeyong was a mess, his hands running through his hair over and over again. Winwin kept asking in broken Hangul what was going on, and where the youngest boys were.

Johnny couldn't get the look on Mark's face out of his head.

Whose blood was he covered in?

A doctor knocked on the door and Johnny stood up quickly. The doctor stepped into the room, two nurses following him.

“We're waiting for their family to get back to us, a couple of boys said they couldn't reach their parents,” he asked and Taeyong stood up as well.

“They're foreigners, I'm the leader, our manager is on the way. We're all like family,” Taeyong spoke softly and the doctor nodded.

“We can't understand one of the boys, he's speaking Chinese, and our translator is with someone else,” he said and Win-win raised his hand slowly.

“I speak Mandarin, I can help,” he said slowly and the nurses motioned him to follow her before disappearing down the hall.

“what happened?” Johnny asked and the doctor hung his head.

“I prefer to tell you when your manager gets here,” the doctor said warily and Taeil folded his arms.

“Is it that bad?” He asked and the man nodded once.

“Are they- did one of the kids die?” Jaehyun asked and the doctor shook his head.

“No, they are all alive,” he explained and Johnny turned his head when he heard the sound of footsteps running down the hall.

“But Mark was covered in blood though,” Johnny asserted.

“It wasn't his,” he explained before the door opened and dreams manager stood in the doorway, panting.

“I'm their manager, what's going on?” He asked and the doctor bowed to the man slightly.

“Several of your charges were admitted to this hospital earlier this morning,” the doctor began.

“They'd all shown signs of physical assault, with several abrasions and bruises. One of the boys, a Lee Minhyung he said took the brunt of the abuse, he has several fractured ribs, a mild concussion, and severe swelling and bruising on his face. Several have knife wounds, but they are shallow, like scratches. I'm concerned about three of the boys, however,” he said and Doyoung let out a breath.

“Why? What's wrong? What happened? Is it Jeno?” He asked and the doctor cleared his throat with a small shake of his head.

“It's not easy to say. Three of the boys were brought in with less severe physical wounds but two of them- Renjun and Chenle- have tearing and bruising consistent with penetration,” the doctor explained and Johnny felt like the ground gave out below him.

“They were raped?” Ten asked, holding onto Johnny.

“Yes. Another boy, Jisung seemed to have only been touched, but he has lacerations on his hands, which are consistent with the wounds that generally come from stabbing someone. Several of the boys have been sedated for pain management, and won't be able to go home tonight,” he explained and Johnny tried to wrap his mind around it. 

He could see it.

The men must have been trying to hurt Mark, and after what they had done to Chenle and Renjun, Jisung must have just snapped.

He must have been so scared, hell all of them must have been.

He couldn't understand who could hurt them.

They were just kids.


	2. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week later, the Dream Kids just try to deal with what happened.

The boys stood at the entrance of the dream dorm. 

After everything had happened, they’d been discharged from the hospital in waves, first Donghyuck, then Jeno, then Jisung. Jisung had gone home to his parents for a few days before being sent back to the dorms. 

This was the first time that all of them would be together again since  _ the incident.  _ Jisung didn’t know what to think about it, he didn’t even want to talk about it. 

How was he supposed to tell his parents about what happened to him? How could he tell them what he’d done?

Instead, he told them bits and pieces, someone broke into the dorm, dream fought them off, then the police came and saved them. 

That was all he’d been able to say.

“We should go in,” Jisung heard Renjun say and Jisung stood at the door.

They’d been removed from _ the incident _ for a week now, and while that didn’t seem like a long time, it felt like forever since he’d seen his friends. 

“I’ll open the door,” Jisung said uselessly, because what else could he say? 

He pushed open the door, the keycode pad hadn’t been fixed yet, so they had to use a physical key, before stepping into the living room. 

Everything looked the same, but different, as if all the furniture had been shifted slightly to the left. 

That couldn't be it, there was no way someone would do something so stupid like coming in and shifting all the furniture to the left a centimeter just to throw Jisung off.

“It looks like it did before,” Jisung said and Renjun glared at him. 

“Of course it does, it’s the dorm. What else was it supposed to look like?” He snapped and Jisung recoiled from his ire, wrapping his arms around his waist.

Renjun had always been savage, despite his innocent image, this was just Renjun getting back to normal. 

Renjun didn’t look at him any differently now, Renjun didn’t think that he was evil, that he was a bad person because he-

“Do you think Mark hyung is coming?” Chenle asked and Donghyuck sniffed, shaking his head. 

“He’s back at his room with 127. He said he couldn’t come back,” Donghyuck said and Jeno turned to face everyone. 

“That’s good, right Renjunnie, now we can tease him all that we want,” Jeno said, trying to make a joke, and normally there was an acknowledgment of Jeno’s attempt of jokes, but no one could do it. 

“Right,” Jeno said under his breath. 

“I’m going to bed,” Renjun said before heading into their room. 

“Me too,” Jeno said, following after him, leaving Donghyuck, Jisung, and Chenle alone. 

“Do you think- do you think we’re safe now?” Jisung asked and Donghyuck patted Jisung’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, with you here. You can just stab them again,” He said with a smile before going to his room. 

Jisung stared at his retreating figure, shocked that he would say something like that so lightly. 

“You know Donghyuckie makes lots of jokes,” Chenle reassured him before swallowing.

“Do you- can you- do you want to sleep in my room,” Chenle asked and Jisung shook his head. 

They should have a manager with them, that was the problem last time.

Their manager was down in the car, talking to the new security.

They would be fine with just them. 

It would be fine. 

Jisung hoped that it would be fine. 

He watched as Chenle reached out to grab Jisung’s arm before stopping himself, letting it fall uselessly by his side. 

Jisung wanted to breach the gap, to grab Chenle’s hand and hold it like old times, but he was scared and his fingers were covered in scabs that left behind painful memories. 

“Let’s go to bed,” Chenle offered and Jisung nodded, following the boy that he shared with the manager. 

They stopped in the door as they looked at the room. 

There was a huge chunk of the carpet ripped out, and it was quite obvious why the carpet was missing. 

Chenle stopped in front of his bed, and Jisung looked at it. 

“Do you want-” They both started at the same time before laughing awkwardly. 

They were playing a game of cat and mouse it seemed, who would acknowledge what had happened first, or who would pretend like it never happened and get in the bed. 

Jisung wasn’t brave at all, he wouldn't be the one to crack first. 

“Let’s lay down, together,” Chenle said and Jisung nodded, lifting the blanket and sliding into the bed at the same time as Chenle. 

They bumped shoulders as they laid in the bed, ramrod straight. 

“Isn’t it weird to be back here?” Chenle asked and Jisung shrugged, feeling his arm brush up against Chenle’s. 

“A little,” Jisung acknowledged and Chenle turned on his side to look at Jisung.

Jisung mirrored him. 

“You were my first kiss,” Chenle whispered after a moment of silence and Jisung’s face turned red. 

So it was Chenle who would break first.

“Me too,” Jisung whispered before looking down at his hands. 

“I- even though  _ he  _ made us, I’m glad you did it before he did,” Chenle said, playing with his fingers. 

Jisung took a deep breath. 

In all honesty, he hadn’t wanted his first kiss, not now, not like that. He hadn’t even thought of what he wanted his first kiss to be like, who he wanted it to be with. 

It wasn’t fair. 

Then again, he was lucky. 

At least he still had other firsts. 

Chenle didn’t. 

Renjun didn’t. 

Renjun had gotten his first kiss and his first...time taken from him by some creep. 

A voice in the back of his head wouldn’t stop reminding him that that was meant to be him instead of Renjun, that Renjun had taken his place. 

Jisung wondered if maybe, just maybe, Renjun was mad at him because he took his place. 

“Me too,” Jisung couldn’t help but mutter even though he didn’t feel that way. 

He didn’t want to make Chenle feel worse. 

“Did you tell your parents?” Chenle asked and Jisung shook his head.

“I couldn’t, I just couldn’t,” Jisung said and Chenle hummed. 

“They don’t know that you…” Chenle began and Jisung shook his head. 

He couldn’t tell his parents that he killed someone. 

That would require him telling his parents what the man had been trying to do before Mark hyung came in, and that was scary. 

“What about you? Do your parents know what happened, that… you know...he-” Jisung asked and Chenle nodded. 

“The translators told them, they uh- they want me to move out of the dorms,” Chenle confessed softly and Jisung found the courage to grip Chenle’s. 

Jisung wanted to tell chenle not to go.

But everything had changed and Jisung wasn't sure he could tell Chenle not to go when he wanted to as well.

  
  


Renjun climbed on the bed softly. Even though it'd been a week since the attack, his body still felt like it was hurting everywhere. 

He didn’t understand why he was sore, especially since the only thing that really happened was someone fucked him. 

It wasn’t like Jeno and Mark, who’d gotten their faces bashed in, who’d been beaten bloody. He hadn’t even been hit. 

“Jaemin’s doing a lot better, I heard he’ll be able to join us again,” Jeno said and Renjun laid back on his bed.

His body protested and he tried to hold in the tiny whine with no avail. 

“Renjunnie, are you okay? Let me help,” Jeno said, getting out of his bed. 

“I can do it myself,” Renjun bit but didn’t stop Jeno as he helped to lay him on his stomach. 

It was hard to lay on his back these days. 

“Are you okay? Are you comfortable?” Jeno asked and Renjun swatted his hands away. 

“I’m fine,” He whispered. 

Renjun didn’t want to worry Jeno, he didn’t want anyone worrying over him. 

He just wanted it to be over with, for things to get back to normal. 

Although, what could normal even be after something like that?

Jeno stood beside Renjun’s bed, his hands fiddling with the blanket as he tried to cover Renjun with it.

His mouth kept opening and closing as if he wanted to say something.

“Spit it out,” Renjun said with a sigh, turning his head to look up at Jeno.

“You were screaming, I heard you when the man was- when he was hurting you. What- what did he do to you?” Jeno stuttered out and Renjun pushed himself up onto his elbows. He didn’t know where the anger came from, why he got so angry. 

What right did Jeno have to ask him what happened? What right did Jeno have to know, when Jeno let it happen to him, when no one saved him, when Jeno didn’t break down the door, Mark did. 

Jeno didn’t do anything to save him, he let that man take him from the couch and-

“You heard me, and you did nothing, so what does it matter what he did to me, you didn’t stop him. No-one stopped him. I was hurt and no one stopped him,” Renjun yelled and Jeno shook his head. 

“I- I tried to stop him, I couldn’t- what could I do to stop him?” Jeno yelled back and Renjun buried his head into his pillow. 

“You could have done what Jisung did, you should have killed him before he could touch me, why didn’t someone save me?” Renjun asked, before turning his head towards the wall, away from Jeno.

Renjun pulled his shirt up so that his slender waist was showing. 

He knew that his waist was marred with sickly yellow bruises from the man’s thumbs pressing deep into his skin to hold him still as he screamed. 

Renjun told him as much as Jeno’s hands ghosted over the bruises. 

He knew that there were angry red scars going up his back from where the knife scratched across his back every time the man pushed in. 

It was the least of his problems and he didn’t feel them as much as he did the other pain, the pain in his muscles that felt like they should be gone but were still there. 

“I-I’m s-”

“Don’t apologize, you didn’t rape me,” Renjun whispered and Jeno cleared his throat. 

Jeno moved to go back to his bed and Renjun reached out, somewhat not of his own volition and grabbed his wrist. 

“Could you- stay with me?” Renjun asked and Jeno nodded before pulling away slightly from Renjun to turn off the light before climbing into bed with him.

Renjun found Jeno’s wrist tight in his right hand, and Jeno curled on the bed next to him. He was laying on his side, his hand clasped in Renjun’s and his head tucked next to the boy’s pillow. 

Renjun awoke to the sound of a glass breaking and a man swearing before his door burst open. 

He screamed, rolling over to see a man standing in his doorway. He cowered and Jeno covered him, even though he was shaking as well. 

“Hey Hey! It’s me, it’s me,” The light flipped on to reveal their manager and Renjun shook his head, burying it into his arms as he cowered. 

He heard footsteps down the hall and he continued to scream into his knees as his manager tried to calm him down.

When was he going to get back to normal?

“Just stop! Get out!” Jeno yelled at the man, his voice loud and the tone straining. He felt like he might get sick with how hard his heart was beating in his chest, and his head was starting to hurt with the way the adrenaline ran through him. 

Renjun was still screaming, and he could hear people stirring in the dorm. 

He had this silly fear that there were more intruders in the dorm, even if logically he knew it was the manager.

He hated how scared he was, how sick he felt, and how Renjun wouldn’t stop screaming, and how Renjun must be reliving what happened to them, but Jeno couldn’t protect him, because Jeno couldn’t move because he was still so scared. 

He hated feeling scared among all else. Why wasn't he strong enough to protect Renjun? Why wasn't he strong enough to protect himself?

“Get away from them!” He heard before watching Chenle wrap his arms around the man’s shoulders, pulling him out of the room. 

The man struggled before grabbing Chenle’s wrists, pulling him away from him and throwing him to the floor. 

Jeno wanted to help, but phantom pain bloomed in the back of his head, the pain reminding him of the panic rushing through him, and where he’d hit his head on the bunk bed corner. 

Chenle kicked out at him and the man fell on top of him, pinning the boy’s arms to the ground as Chenle kicked and screamed, trying to dislodge him.

All Jeno could think was that that was how the man held Renjun down, and Jeno did nothing but listen to his screams, and he was doing nothing but letting it happen again, and he couldn’t let it happen again, but he was paralyzed and Renjun was still screaming, and the pain was taking over his whole head now and he couldn’t breathe and-

“What the fuck is going on?” Jeno heard before the man was pulled away from Chenle by their Johnny hyung. 

He couldn’t hear what Johnny was saying, but he knew he heard other footsteps, other people in the dorm.

He could hear Taeyong calming Jisung down the hall. 

“Jeno, stop, hey, it’s me, it’s okay now,” Doyoung was in his line of vision now, a soft smile and familiar gentle eyes.

He heard someone speaking Mandarin and he didn’t even have to look over to see that Sicheng hyung was next to Renjun, calming him down. 

Renjun stopped screaming and he was suddenly aware of a soft rasping voice begging for them to stop before realizing the voice belonged to him.

He’s been yelling  _ Stop  _ this whole time.

“Jeno, sweetie, look at hyung, there’s nothing to be afraid of now, everything is fine, we’re together, hyung is here, everything is fine,” He whispered and Jeno fell into his arms, burying his head in Doyoung’s shoulders. 

“Come on, you’re coming with me, okay, you’ll sleep with me tonight,” He said and Jeno nodded, letting Doyoung help him out of the bed. 

He could hear the other Dream members being helped to their feet, and he stopped worrying about keeping them safe, instead letting himself feel safe in Doyoung’s arms. 

Jeno lied in bed next to Doyoung, the elder running his hands through Jeno’s hair softly.

His fingers caressed over the spot where his head connected with the bunk bed and he flinched.

Doyoung didn’t say anything, just began to stroke his hair again, avoiding the spot altogether. 

“We’re getting new management, how dare that man put his hands on you guys, there’s no way SM should have allowed him to come back anyway after he just left you guys home that night and couldn’t be contacted for hours. You need Noonas, no one else, we can’t trust men anymore,” Doyoung ranted and Jeno took a deep breath. 

“I still trust you, and Renjun is still a man, even after- I trust him,” Jeno whispered and Doyoung whistled low.

“Of course, you can trust your members, we’ll always have you back, just like you’ll have ours,” Doyoung said softly. 

Jeno shook his head, burying it into Doyoung’s shoulder. 

He was getting taller now, he’d be Doyoung’s height soon, but he felt so small in the man’s arms. 

He felt weak because Doyoung was trying to save him so bad, but Jeno couldn’t save anyone else. 

He was scared. 

“I can’t- I don’t have your back, I don’t have anyone’s back, I couldn’t save Renjun, I just listened to his screams and I did nothing and-” Jeno’s voice cut off as a sob wracked through him.

“You did your best Jeno. You did what you could, and I’m so proud of you. We heard the police recording, we know that you called the police, you saved Dream. You did well,” Doyoung reassured him and Jeno shook his head. 

“I wanted to be brave, but I was so scared, and they wouldn’t stop hitting me, and hurting Renjun and I just wanted it to stop, I just want it to stop,” Jeno whimpered and Doyoung hugged him tightly.

“It’s over now, they’re not coming back, you’re safe with hyung. It’s okay that you were scared, it was a scary situation, but you saved them, you saved yourself, you were brave Jeno,” Doyoung whispered, his voice misty as he buried his head in Jeno’s hair, crying softly as he held him. 

No one deserved what Dream went through.

Donghyuck watched as Sicheng soothed Renjun from his bed, holding the boy’s hand and whispering to him in Mandarin. 

Renjun would give a weak whisper back and Donghyuck wanted to know what he was saying.

But then again, he didn’t. 

Renjun went through some heavy stuff, and Donghyuck only knew one way to deal with awkwardness and that was inappropriate comments. 

He didn’t know what he’d possibly even say to the boy. 

He was lucky in a way.

What happened to them sucked, like majorly sucked, and the stitches on the cut on his face would heal into a scar, forever reminding him about what happened, but that was the extent of it. He didn’t have his brains bashed like Mark and Jeno had, at least not as bad. And no one raped him. 

_ Even though he was just as cute as Renjun, that man didn’t know what he was missing. _

There went another inappropriate comment. 

But he was lucky, he would be fine. 

“Hey, why are you still awake?” Taeil hyung asked and Donghyuck laid his head on his shoulder. 

“I should have just slept in my room, Renjun’s too loud being a crybaby in the corner,” Donghyuck said and he watched Taeil wince slightly. 

“Sorry, that was inappropriate,” Donghyuck said and Taeil just sighed, rubbing his hand up Donghyuck’s back. 

He was fine, nothing changed for him. 

He’d gotten lucky.

Really. 

“It’s my fault,” Mark whispered and Johnny shook his head. 

“It’s not your fault Mark,” Johnny said. 

Mark knew his hyung was tired, that after the commotion over at Dream dorm, the older man wanted to sleep, but Mark couldn’t sleep. 

He kept having these stupid cyclic thoughts, and he knew it had only been a week, but they wouldn’t stop, and Mark had always ruminated on his mistakes, sometimes he laid awake at night and thought of every embarrassing thing he’d ever said, specific memories popping up unbidden in his mind. 

He’d think back to when he peed his pants in third grade, or some stupid joke that he told on broadcast, and he’d just live in that mortification, lay awake for hours thinking about how awkward, and wrong he was, and sometimes he’d worry about things that he shouldn’t be worried about, like what would happen if a tornado hit the dorm, which was statistically unlikely, but he still worried about it. 

The point was that Mark Lee was no stranger to laying awake at night and worrying, but this really took the cake. 

Because for the first time, one of his fears came true, and it was his fault. 

He kept thinking about all the things that he didn’t wrong, everything that was his fault. 

He’d told the manager that he would watch Dream, that the man could go and spend the night with his family. 

He’d been the leader of the group, he was supposed to keep everyone safe. 

But he forgot to lock the door. 

How could he forget to lock the door?

Jisung told him the keypad had been acting funny for two weeks and he didn’t do anything about it, he didn’t report it to the manager, he just told them to carry their keys just in case it fritzed out for good. 

He brought Donghyuck and Renjun and Jeno out into the living room. 

He let them get hurt. 

He was the hyung and he didn’t protect them and-

“Mark, none of that his true, you didn’t let them get hurt, it wasn’t your fault. You’re a kid, kids make mistakes, but what they did- that wasn’t your fault,” Johnny reassured him and Mark shook his head. 

When he got like this he was never sure what he was saying aloud, and what was in his head. 

His head was feeling fuzzy, and his chest tight, and he thought he might have told Johnny that because Johnny pulled Mark closer, letting him lean into his chest so that Johnny’s chest was pressed into Mark’s back. 

He’d had panic attacks before, and Johnny had helped him through them sometimes, so he knew that Johnny was trying to get Mark to feel safe, to model his breathing so that Mark could focus on something else except the dots clouding his vision and the spiraling thoughts because he was spiraling, and passing out felt like being choked out, which made him feel like it was happening all over again, which made him panic more.

“You’re not going to pass out, because I’ve got you, no one’s choking you, it’s just me, You’re in my room, you’re safe, nothing bad is happening, you are safe,” Johnny coached and Mark tried to steady his breathing, his hand coming up to ghost over the bruises on his neck. 

His eye was still bruised, and the swelling in his face had gone down but he still felt every punch in the face, the burst blood vessel in his eye caused his eye white to still be tinged with red, but it was going away soon. 

“Say it with me, Mark. You are safe,” Johnny whispered and Mark swallowed, his voice raspy. 

“I am safe,” He repeated and he could feel the kiss pressed into the top of his head. 

He would repeat it until he believed it. 

Chenle wanted to be with Jisung. 

Jisung had gone to 127’s dorm, where everyone had gone, and Chenle opted to go to the Trainee dorm where Kun was. 

Jisung was bedding down for the night in Jaehyun’s room, which Chenle knew because both teens had been texting each other the whole time to make sure they were okay. 

He couldn’t help it, he and Jisung were best friends. They did everything together. Even though they didn’t room together, they slept in the same room nearly every night, and they talked constantly. 

They were each other’s confidants, so it was weird to be apart, even after all of this. 

Although Chenle thought that maybe it was weird to be together after all of this too.

He kept thinking about what the man made him and Jisung do to each other before the man did what he did to Chenle and he’d said it out loud to the translators, but not to anyone that mattered. 

He hadn’t gotten the chance to tell his own story to people who he cared about, and he’d wanted to tell his parents, but in his own way. 

He wanted to tell someone.

He thought about going to the bathroom, calling Jisung and telling him what happened to him. 

But there was no point. 

Just like everything since Chenle moved to Korea, he and Jisung had done it together. 

But he still wanted to do it anyway. 

“Where are you going?” Kun asked as he rolled over from his sleep.

“Bathroom,” Chenle answered hastily and Kun readjusted. 

Chenle picked up his phone as he walked out, typing out a quick message to Jisung telling him that he was going to call him and that he wanted to talk about what happened that night. 

Chenle leaned against the sink, his eyes staring into the bottom of the shower as he talked. 

He was speaking fast, his voice cracking slightly as he recounted the story. 

He could hear Jisung’s heavy breathing on the phone, but he had no idea how he could hear Jisung over his own stuttering, over the way he was messing up his tones, having to correct himself, because he didn’t know the words to say it in Hangul, but he didn’t have the confidence to say it in his native language. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand that. I wish I could, I wish I could understand you,” Jisung whispered when he was finished talking and Chenle slumped against the sink. 

He was being heard, but he just wanted to be understood. 

“Thanks anyway, good night,” Chenle whispered and Jisung reciprocated before hanging up. 

Chenle sighed, running his hands through his hair before opening the door to find Kun standing in front of the bathroom door. 

“Kun hyung, I didn’t know you were out here,” Chenle said in Hangul and Kun shook his head. 

“I made you some tea,” He offered in Mandarin, leading Chenle back into his room. 

There was a tray set up on Kun’s bed and Chenle sat down on the floor in front of it. 

Kun sat down next to him, handing Chenle a teacup before taking a sip of his own.

“If you want someone to understand, I’m here to listen,” Kun said and Chenle leaned his head on Kun’s shoulder, clasping the cup between both hands. 

“The man, he carried me to my room, then brought Jisung and Renjun. He asked us which one was the youngest and Rejun said it was him. He started to touch Renjun and when he did, he told me and Jisung that he wanted a show. He made me and Jisung kiss each other,” Chenle started, his voice steady and even as he told the story. 

He wouldn’t rush it, he would take his time to tell this time. 

He would be the one to tell his story, and he would be understood. 

“Thank you for telling me, I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Kun said quietly after he was finished and Chenle let the elder hug him close.

“We were just kids Hyung, why would someone do this to us?” Chenle asked and Kun shook his head. 

“That’s one thing I’ll never understand,” Kun answered.

Chenle knew that was the best answer he would get, and even though he knew that in the morning life would really begin again, he was content in this moment right now. 

He would be moving out of the dorm tomorrow, and things wouldn’t be completely the same anymore, at least things would get better. 

They were safe with their members. 


End file.
